


5 Times The Swan-Mills Family Missed Christmas

by magicsophicorn



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Christmas, F/F, Swan-Mills Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-12
Updated: 2015-12-12
Packaged: 2018-05-06 09:17:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5411336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicsophicorn/pseuds/magicsophicorn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times Emma and Regina missed Christmas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	5 Times The Swan-Mills Family Missed Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> I have played fast and loose with canon here, I figure if the actual writers of the show are allowed to, so am I…

Emma Swan's heart pounded in time with her feet hitting the pavement. Her lungs were burning. Damn, she really needed to get fitter if she was going to continue in this line of work much longer.

The guy she was chasing swerved down a side street and Emma grit her teeth as she followed him. That meant he was going to try to fight her.

She slowed as she entered the alleyway behind him, the guy was already stood waiting for her, a sneer on his face.

"We don't have to do this you know," Emma said. After all, it never hurt to try. "You could just come with me."

The guy charged at her then. She side-stepped him easily and kneed him in the balls. He went down like a sack of potatoes.

"Christ lady!" He gasped, "Why you gotta do this to me? It's Christmas Day for fuck's sake!"

Emma cuffed him and pulled him to his feet.

"Well you should have thought of that before you were naughty, shouldn't you?"

\--------------------------

Regina sat wringing her hands together, over and over, twisting her ring and pulling at her fingers. She'd never felt so scared in all her life.

Nurses and doctors rushed past her but none of them stopped to give her any news.

It was torture.

And it was all her fault.

She'd only turned her back for just a few minutes, but that was all it had taken for Henry to trip over his shoe and fall down the stairs.

Eventually Dr Whale emerged and walked towards her, she stood to meet him.

"Henry's fine, Madam Mayor, just a broken arm. He'll need to stay in overnight for observation but if all is well you should be able to go home tomorrow."

Regina nodded and Whale gestured to the door of the room. Hesitantly Regina entered.

Henry was sitting up in bed, a cast on his arm, happily flicking through the TV channels. Regina sat down on the end of his bed.

"Can we go home now Mom?"

Regina swallowed round the lump in her throat.

"Sorry Henry, we have to stay here overnight, we can go home tomorrow though."

The look of horror on his face broke her heart.

"But tomorrow is Christmas! How will Santa find me here?"

Regina scooted over to him and wrapped him in her arms.

"I'll tell him where you are baby, don't worry."

Henry snuggled into her embrace.

"Promise?"

"I promise."

\--------------------------

Regina stared out into the jungle, her stomach coiling over and over in fear.

She was reminded of this time 6 years ago, when Henry had fallen down the stairs and broken his arm. She had thought then that that was the most scared she could ever be.

She was wrong.

Henry was out there somewhere on this island, with Pan, who was doing gods knew what to him.

It took everything within her not to just burn the entire island to the ground to get to him. But she knew she had to stick with the others.

She was startled out of her thoughts by Emma sitting down next to her.

Regina turned to face her, intending on telling her to leave, but the look on her face killed the words in her mouth. Emma felt exactly as she did.

"We'll find him," Emma eventually whispered, "and then we'll all go home and have the biggest late Christmas dinner ever. Together."

Regina didn't reply. She couldn't. But somehow her hand found Emma's and it felt like a promise.

\-------------------------------

Emma curled her legs up into her chest on the couch. She had turned her phone off and locked the door.

She couldn't face being around her family right now.

It had been two weeks since the darkness had left her and everything was just so… overwhelming.

She'd left them presents, of course she had. But the thought of all that noise, all those people, everything so bright, and all of them expecting her to smile and be happy. It was just too much.

A swirl of purple smoke made her almost fall off the couch.

"Regina!"

Regina didn't say anything, she just sat down at the other end of the couch, and Emma suddenly noticed that she was wearing a pair of grey silk pyjamas.

"Regina what are…"

"You shouldn't be alone right now," Regina interrupted, not looking at Emma. "You shouldn't be with everyone else if you're not ready, but you shouldn't be alone either."

Emma was surprised. She'd assumed that Regina had been sent here to fetch her. But instead she was just here to keep her company. If it was anyone else Emma wouldn't want them here, but somehow being around Regina was easy, it was comfortable. She understood what Emma was feeling, what she was going through.

"You should be with Henry," Emma whispered, "it's Christmas."

Regina turned to look at her then.

"You need me more."

\-------------------------------

Emma's heart pounded and her lungs burned. She turned her head to look at the woman running beside her.

She grinned.

Her Mom called her reckless, and to be honest she was probably right, because Emma really did love this.

The manticore roared behind them and Emma and Regina rounded the corner of the street and ran down past the trap they had set.

The beast chased after them and, exactly as predicted, into the waiting cage.

Emma rushed to close it but wasn't quite fast enough. The marticore's jaw closed around her foot and she yelped in pain.

A moment later and the monster released her as Regina pounded it with fireball after fireball.

Emma took the opportunity to scramble back and close the cage.

Regina's arms were around her seconds later.

"Emma! Are you alright? Let me see."

Regina held her hand over Emma's ankle, a soft white light radiating from it as she healed it.

Emma smiled.

"Aw babe, I love it when you get protective over me."

Regina rolled her eyes.

"Shut up Miss Swan. We have a family Christmas dinner to get to, in case you had forgotten."

Regina helped Emma to her feet.

"Oh but I'm injured… I think I need rest, and some TLC, and maybe for you to wear that Naughty Mrs Claus outfit I saw in the back of the closet…"

Regina stared at her, and Emma knew this could go either way.

"It would be remiss of me not to check the rest of your body for other injuries I suppose..." She eventually said, her mouth curving into a smirk.

Emma grinned. Success.

She leaned over and kissed Regina.

"Aren't you supposed to do that under mistletoe at this time of year?" Regina murmured when they pulled apart.

"What can I say," Emma replied, as she took Regina's hand and began to summon her magic to poof them home, "I'm a rebel."


End file.
